


Relax

by thirdeyeopen



Series: An Alien's Guide To Friendship and Stuff [1]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Fluff, ZADF, the boys are friends, writing fluff is hard to me so this may be cheesy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 18:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21059129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thirdeyeopen/pseuds/thirdeyeopen
Summary: "Sometimes things happen, and sometimes they don't."Dib and Zim are still trying to learn how to be friends.





	Relax

Nothing was going to happen that day. 

Skool was out for the summer and, free of responsibility, Zim should have bee chiseling away at another scheme. He should have been working feverishly like always, trying to come up with something foolproof, something the annoying Dib-creature couldn’t foil. 

And he would be, if he was still living in last year. 

But now it was a new summer, and Zim was nowhere near his base, and neither was Dib. Instead, the two of them were upon the roof of Dib’s house, watching the sky. For what, Zim didn’t know. 

“What are we looking for?” He asked after a time, his undisguised eyes flashing confusion at the human beside him. 

Dib, not turning his head to look, only replied, “Nothing.” 

Zim frowned. What a pointless, pointless activity. He turned his head back to the sky, trying to play along. 

“I’m bored.” he said.

Dib sighed, sitting up and running a hand from his nose to over his right eye. “So much for relaxing.” He muttered aloud, already going over all the absolutely insane things Zim would vouch for doing in his head. 

Zim gave him a look, but Dib missed it. The Irken sat up as well, listening to Dib’s shoes slide against the roof shingles as he brought his knees to his chest. 

“So,” said Dib after a moment of silence, “what’s the plan?”

Zim picked at the asphalt shingles, pondering. Now that they weren’t fighting (physically, anyway), they needed to come up with something interesting to do while they waited for Skool to start up again. They both had a different idea of what “fun” was: Dib liked to go looking for Mothmen and Thunderbirds. Zim just liked to prank people. 

Dib also liked to “relax”, but that was boring. 

Things had changed a lot in the last year. Somehow, fighting had become mundane. Zim had stopped putting actual effort into his creations. They became less like machines made to destroy the world and more like things that only existed to get Dib rushing over. As it turns out, Zim had begun to want attention more than the sight of the world falling to its knees, and Dib, ever aware, had taken notice to it. A few confrontations and nights of denial later, Zim finally admitted it. 

He wanted to be friends. 

A lot had changed between that day and where they were at now. Easing into friendship was awkward, and neither of them really knew what they were doing. 

Maybe they still needed time to get used to it.

Zim glanced at Dib, trying to read his expression; the human seemed exhausted, and frustrated. Was that his fault? 

He slowly laid back down, poking two fingers together as Dib didn't copy. In the silence, he mused over something vague Dib had told him before; "things" were happening at home. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten. 

"Actually," the Irken began, breaking the silence, "let's just… stay here." 

Dib's expression changed; he didn't look back at Zim, only slowly layed back down and let the sun warm up his face. 

Things still weren't as normal as they could be; the two of them were enemies before they were friends. That was going to take longer than a skool year to forget about. 

Something exciting didn't always have to happen, after all. They could just… exist.

Most of all, they could relax. 

Zim closed his eyes.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Comments are appreciated! 
> 
> This is my first ZADF fic, and my second overall in this fandom. Despite how hard fluff is for me to write, I'm proud of how this turned out. It may not be perfect, but it's an idea I successfully translated for others to read; that's good enough for me. If you enjoyed, please consider leaving a kudo and comment! They make my day.


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